No matter how much resolve you could muster, it was still difficult to quit Apple if Steve wanted you to stay. You'd have to sit down with him for a reality distortion session, which was often effective at getting people to change their minds. One day, a few of us were talking about strategies to overcome Steve's persuasiveness.

"I've got it!", said Burrell. "I know the perfect way to quit that will nullify the reality distortion field."

Of course we wanted to know how he could do that.

"I'll just walk into Steve's office, pull down my pants, and urinate on his desk. What could he say to that? It's guaranteed to work." We laughed, thinking that not even Burrell would have the guts to do that.

A year and a half later, it finally was time for Burrell to quit, after months of scuffling with Bob Belleville and some of the other managers, who wanted to cancel the "Turbo Mac" project (a redesigned, faster Mac based on a semi-custom chip, with an internal hard drive) that Burrell was working on with Brian Howard and Bob Bailey.

Burrell told Bob Belleville (who was probably relieved, since he knew that Burrell didn't respect him) and the human resources department that he was quitting, and then made an appointment to see Steve that afternoon. When he walked into Steve's office, he was surprised to see Steve grinning at him.

"Are you gonna do it? Are you really gonna do it?", asked Steve. Somehow, word about the urination threat had gotten back to Steve, and he was genuinely curious if Burrell would go through with it or not.

Burrell looked Steve in the eye. "Do I have to? I'll do it if I have to."

Steve's expression gave him the answer, so Burrell turned and walked out of the office, no longer an Apple employee.

I heard, or read somewhere that Burrel snapped and was seen chucking rocks at Steve's house. But this happened many years later, like 1992 ... Does anyone know more about Burrel and that incident?
... I love this site very, very much. I was once interviewed by your small team around May of '81 - including Steve (we almost smoked a joint near the exit doors)... remember?

from Douglas Johnson on June 15, 2008 22:50:06

Steve Jobs is a very clever man.

from Sean Burke on July 06, 2008 23:49:09

And I guess that's how Jerkcity,com really began!

from Luca Re Garbagnati on October 19, 2011 09:52:10

After the dramatic death of Jobs, re-reading this site has been a great ride.
Got to watch Andy and Bill rejoin with Steve after iPhone launch. Too sad to see Burrell was missing, and even worse to get to the Times article with the restraining order injuction from Steve.
Wonder where Burrell is now and what he is doing, he was a pure genius and the world's missing him. But I guess I won't get any tip about that...

from Carl Rossi on January 04, 2012 15:36:03

The biography of Jobs has a passage about Andy, Steve, and Burrell in later times. Not a pretty picture. Jobs gave up his life for Apple, and Burrell, his mind. Here's to the crazy ones......

from Cecil Meeks on July 27, 2017 20:33:09

I would have done it. In fact, I would have done it Eric Cartman style.